​China’s eco-crisis: 60% of underground water polluted

At least 60 percent of China’s underground water resources have “very poor” or “relatively poor” quality, which means these water can’t be used for drinking directly, says a new report, showing a deep environmental crisis in the country.

China’s Ministry of Land and Resources has been monitoring at
least 4,778 areas in 203 Chinese cities in 2013, the official
Xinhua news agency said. According an annual report unveiled by
the ministry, in at least 43.9 percent of the monitored sites the
underground water was ranked as “relatively poor” and in
15.7 percent of cases as “very poor.” This means that
about 59.6 percent of underground water can’t be used directly
for drinking.

The recent results show a decrease in the amount of drinkable
underground water in China by 2 percent compared to 57.4 percent
in 2012.

If the quality of water is considered "poor," it can’t
be used at all as a source for drinking water, say China's
underground water standards, while water of “relatively
poor" quality may be used for drinking only after special
treatment.

According to the report, water quality became worse in 754 areas
monitored by the ministry and improved only in 647 sites.

Deterioration of drinking water quality is still one of the
country’s major problems. The pollution is caused by an
increasing population and rapid economic growth as well as lax
environmental oversight.

In April, cancer-inducing benzene was found in water supply in
the city of Lanzhou, which is considered one of the most polluted
in the country. Citizens stockpiled crates of water as the
government warned them not to consume any of the tap water for
the next 24 hours. The water supply was switched off in one
district. China blamed Veolia Water, the sole water supplier for
more than 2 million people in the city, for failing to maintain
water quality. The company, however, stated that the pollution
was because of industrial contamination.

However, on Tuesday the chairman of the Chinese unit of French
utility Veolia Environment "bowed and expressed his
apology" to the public after the accident.

Meanwhile, China is not only affected by water pollution.
According to a report released earlier in April on the website of
the Ministry of Environmental Protection, one-fifth of Chinese
farmland is polluted as a result of the country’s dramatic
industrialization, overuse of farm chemicals and minimal
environmental protection. The report was originally a state
secret and names heavy metals such as arsenic and cadmium as main
pollutants.

The smog that covers the majority of Chinese cities, including
its capital, Beijing, has become so thick it is impeding
photosynthesis, potentially disrupting China’s food supply.
According to an associate professor at China Agricultural
University, He Dongxian, if air pollution continues, China will
experience something akin to a “nuclear winter.”

According to the country’s vice-minister of the Chinese
Environmental Protection Ministry, Wu Xiaoqing, 71 out of 74
cities monitored in China over 2013 did not meet state
environmental standards with various degrees of problems.

The Chinese government has been trying to curb its pollution
problems ever since. The authorities have introduced numerous
policies to try to clean up the environment, including investing
in new non-polluting projects and giving courts the power to
enforce stiff penalties.

In December, the Chinese government used ‘cloud seeding’
method- artificial rain - to disperse the smog that affected the
majority of the cities in the country.

However, the enforcement is patchy; particularly at the local
level, where authorities rely on taxes from polluting industries.